Today John the Farmer made John the Farmer’s famous ‘John the Farmer’ Quince preserve .

Peal the quinces thinly, slice. Remove the hard flesh around the core .

Place in a bowl of lightly salted water to prevent discolouring.

Wash your jars in hot soapy water, rinse well and set aside to drain.

Set oven to 150 degrees and place jars and lids (lids off) in oven for at least half an hour while boiling your fruit.

Cooking the fruit in water until soft :

All hard fruit is first boiled in water until soft . Test by piercing the fruit with a match; if the fruit is soft enough, the match should easily penetrate the fruit . If the fruit is not soft before boiling it in the syrup the preserve will be hard and tough .

Boil the water rapidly, then gradually immerse the fruit in the water so that the water does not stop boiling. This will prevent the fruit from becoming too soft . (+- 10min for 1kg fruit)

Drain and set aside in saucepan with lid on to keep hot .

Preparing the syrup :

Use a good quality, heavy preserving saucepan .

Use 500g sugar for every 500g fruit .

Use 500ml water per 500g fruit .

Weigh the required sugar and add the water . Stir until all the sugar has dissolved and then bring the syrup to the boil.